


Friends

by FrozenWaffle



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, This Is Sad, and my longest fic ever, i was hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 11:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19973341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenWaffle/pseuds/FrozenWaffle
Summary: This takes place after the events of 301.





	Friends

Garfield’s phone clattered against the floor. “Ugh,” he brought a hand up to run through his hair. His friend, Tim, had been ignoring him since Batman resigned from the Justice League. Garfield wasn’t there at the time- he was filming a scene for his show- but his friend was ignoring him along with the others.

Tim hadn’t answered his phone in a week.

Garfield wasn’t clear if his friend was making an effort to avoid them, or if he was dead.

He hoped it was the former.

That train of thought got derailed when someone knocked lightly on his door. “M’Gann wanted me to get you for the mission briefing,” Cassie poked her blonde head in the room, “D- Did he call you back?”

Garfield hesitated. He knew Cassie was hurting from her break-up with Tim, and Tim didn’t really do a good job of updating his former team about his current well-being. They were all worried about him, and Garfield didn’t want to worry Cassie any more than he had to.

“Yeah,” Garfield’s voice cracked slightly, “He said he’s fine. He’s been really busy lately.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks Gar,” Cassie replied, moving back into the hallway.

“Anytime,” Garfield muttered to himself.

He got to his feet and started to make his way towards the room where the team received their missions. His adoptive-sister would not be happy if he intentionally missed a mission briefing.

When he got to the meeting, he looked around. Cassie, Jaime, and Bart were already there. Traci and Virgil were off-world, on a mission with Zatanna and Black Lightning, so they would not be attending the briefing. Which meant everyone on the team was there.

Things still felt wrong with Tim, Stephanie and Cissie gone. They had quit the team over a week ago, but it still felt like a new development. Like it was a fresh wound.

_ ‘Time heals all wounds,’ _ M’Gann had told him, _‘I know this is disappointing, Gar. But it’ll get better.’_

M’Gann was a liar.

“There’s a drug trade in Gotham ran by the Riddler. Unknown sources have reported that he’s working with Penguin, and they’re pedaling drugs to children. I need a covert ops team at the ready. I’m not entirely sure that this information is accurate, but it couldn’t hurt to check,” M’Gann began pulling up a map on the holo-screen, “Also, since we’re so shorthanded right now, all of you will be on the squad. I’ll send you the coordinates.”

Just as quickly as the briefing began, it was over, and everyone began suiting up for their mission.

Garfield couldn’t help but note that they were going to Gotham, home of the Batman.

After he put on his suit, he joined the others in the bioship.

-

“I’ve got eyes on Penguin,” Jaime said into the comms, “He’s meeting with the Riddler and some other guy. I did a scan, but Scarab can’t detect who it is. I’m going to get in a little closer.”

“Be careful,” Cassie warned.

“Will do,” he assured before voicing to his scarab, “No, we will be careful.”

Jaime had deployed from the bioship first, while the others had to impatiently wait. It was probable that sending him out first was the most advantageous tactic, due to Scarab. He could scan for things the others could likely miss, which made him the best man for the job.

But it also meant he had to go into the warehouse alone.

Even with that condition, Garfield was still a little jealous of the position.

“Penguin keeps calling the other guy ‘Dent.’ What does that mean?” Jaime whispered. “It means Two-Face is in on the trade too. Guys, you’re up. Take the trade down,” M’Gann’s voice echoed from the other end of their comms.

“I thought this was covert?” Bart changed into stealth-mode.

“The objective of the mission is changing. If you can stop this now, do it.”

“Okay,” Garfield also changed into stealth-mode, following his friend’s lead. Cassie followed suit.

“Wait,” Jaime said, pausing.

“What?” Garfield inquired, pressing him to answer.

“There’s someone else here. Not part of the trade I would wager, since they’re lurking up in the rafters,” Jaime responded, “We need to wait a little longer before sending anyone else in, hermano.”

“Alright.”

Waiting was agony for Garfield. It definitely didn’t ease his nerves when Jaime had said someone else was with him. He wasn’t sure if they were safe, they could get Jaime captured or killed. All the more reason that he should’ve taken back-up.

The sound of something exploding was audible from the bioship, let alone the loud noise that reverberated throughout the comm unit.

“Blue!” Bart and Garfield exclaimed in unison.

“Jaime!” Cassie yelled when they received no response, “Are you okay?”

“A- Arrowette?” Jaime stuttered back.

“What? No, I’m Wondergirl. What’re you talking about?” Cassie questioned quickly, “I think this is our cue. Blue, can you tell us what’s happening?”

They got no answer in turn. The three of them slowly approached the bioship’s helm, opened the doors and dropped to the ground.

_ ‘At least the building isn’t in shambles,’ _ Garfield thought aloud. 

The warehouse didn’t seem to be affected by the explosion that had occurred, so it must have been smaller than the team was anticipating.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Cissie, is that you?” Jaime asked. 

Something was happening on Jaime’s end, and none of them knew what it was. If Cissie was truly there, maybe the explosion they heard was caused by one of her arrows. That would be the best case scenario.

Garfield, Cassie and Bart quietly ran into the warehouse, searching for their friend. The warehouse was smaller on the inside than you would figure, the outside made it appear larger than life. The ceiling was low and close to the ground, surprisingly. Another key point about the warehouse was how dark it was. If Garfield couldn’t hear people’s voices echoing off the walls, he’d assume it was abandoned.

“Jaime?” Cassie soundlessly called his name. “Jaime, please answer us.”

Then Garfield saw it. A glint of blue armor reflecting off a metal beam. Blue Beetle was talking to someone, and if they were lucky, it was their (possibly former) friend, Cissie.

“Guys look!” Bart pointed upwards before Garfield could point it out.

“Good eye,” Cassie mumbled, grabbing Bart by the shoulder. She flew them up to the rafters. The position looked uncomfortable, but it was short-term anyway. Garfield shifted into a monkey and climbed up a bar that led to the cat-walks.

When they got up there though, they weren’t expecting to find Jaime shouting at them.

“Guys! We got to go! We have to go right now, listen!” he screamed, waving his arms frantically. This caused a commotion, and they received a barrage of bullets sent their way. They scrambled and ducked behind a particularly thick piece of metal and prayed stray bullets wouldn’t find them.

“Good Job! You got us figured out!” Bart remarked.

“We have to get out of here! This compound is rigged to blow in two minutes!” Jaime had an abrasive edge to his voice. Or maybe it was annoyance. Maybe both. Garfield couldn’t tell.

“But there’s still people in here! Drug dealers, but people! What about them?” Garfield would not allow any of them to leave until they knew that everyone in the building would be safe. He wasn’t quite sure why the building was set to blow in the first place, but he also didn’t want to stick around to find out. There were people that they needed to help in the building though, they wouldn’t be doing their job if they let people die- innocent or not.

“Kid Flash. Do you think you can use your speed to get some people out and out of the blast radius?” Jaime asked him.

“Sure thing, BB,” Bart said, sliding down a bar to the ground. He ran towards a person and the two of them were gone in a flash. Garfield knew that Bart was not going to be able to save everyone on his own. So, he shifted into a falcon and glided to the ground. Then, he shifted into a cheetah, and grabbed a person by their arm. Bart would still have to take the people out of the blast zone, but Garfield was making the job a little bit easier.

“Guys, we got to get out of here!” Cissie frantically screamed at Jaime and Cassie, “I’m sure the time is almost up.”

Jaime flew down from the rafters carrying Cissie, Cassie right behind them. The three of them sprinted for a set of doors. They could only hope the others were doing the same.

“Beast Boy, Kid Flash, get out of there!” Jaime warned. 

“But there are still people in there!”

“It’s going to be close,” Garfield could tell by Bart’s tone that he was gritting his teeth.

That was it. They had successfully gotten everyone out. All of a sudden, Bart was yelling at Garfield.

“Change back now, Gar! I can’t carry you while you’re a cheetah!”

Oh yeah. Garfield quickly shifted back to his human form and braced himself for the ride he was about to endure. Bart held Garfield in a fireman’s carry and sped away from the building.

Garfield could see the building collapse in the distance.

Bart stopped in an alley, where the rest of their friends were awaiting them. Garfield surmised that Cassie and Jaime had flown there and carried Cissie, but then again, how did they know where to meet? Maybe Bart had sped them there, or maybe Garfield had spaced out when they were forming a plan. Both options seemed realistic.

“We need to talk,” Cissie said, approaching Cassie slowly.

“I know,” she replied, crossing her arms.

“Wait, hold that thought.”

Garfield heard a low buzzing, which was most likely coming from Cissie’s comm link she had in her ear.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m out. I’m in the alley near Stricks Street. Meet me there, ASAP,” she stated to the person on the other line.

“Who was that?” Cassie quirked an eyebrow.

“Steph,” Cissie looked at her feet, “I wanted to apologize to all of you for leaving the team unannounced.”

Garfield wondered if she was tracking them somehow. It seemed unlikely that they ended up in the same place at the same time was mere coincidence.

“Steph and I aren’t on speaking terms,” Cassie huffed, stiffening.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“We weren’t on speaking terms until today. Don’t act like you didn’t have a hand in this, Cissie!” Cassie pointed a finger in her face.

“I didn’t. This wasn’t my decision,” Cissie sighed, making eye contact.

“Then who’s was it?”

“Batman and Arrow’s. They told us not to tell you guys because they didn’t want the secret to get out,” Cissie responded.

“So, their plan was to completely blindside Kaldur. Typical,” Cassie snapped back.

Cissie rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably.

Garfield heard footsteps. He looked up to see three masked heroes, two recognizable, approaching them.

“Well, well, well,” Bart said, stepping up to Tim, “It’s the boy that’s gone incognito.”

Bart’s old friend stared back at him from behind his hood, blankly. Or what Garfield assumed to be blankly, he couldn’t really tell because of his mask.

“Care to tell us about your little ongoing stunt?” Bart prompted, standing on his tip-toes to compensate for the height difference, “You didn’t even bother saying goodbye. None of you did.”

“Look, none of us meant to hurt any of you,” Stephanie interjected, placing a hand on Bart’s shoulder. Bart shook it off. Stephanie carefully retracted her hand.

Cassie appeared next to Garfield. “Why did you guys let go like you were the only ones hanging on?” she asked wistfully, looking Tim in the face.

“You just disappeared,” Garfield added. He glared at the mask of the unrecognizable person that arrived with Stephanie and Tim.

“Batman’s orders,” Tim answered, darkly.

“Are you really that much of Batman’s lapdog that you’re afraid to disobey his orders?” Jaime asked, stepping in front of Bart, “It almost seems like he’s walking all over you.”

Before Garfield could process the scene that was going on in front of him, Tim punched Jaime in the face, hard. Clearly, being called a lapdog struck a chord in him. The punch didn’t make a difference though, Jaime’s armor had shielded him from the blow. A crack could be heard when Tim’s knuckles met the armor.

“Tim, hey, no!” Stephanie said, trying to grip Tim’s shoulder. The mystery person aided Stephanie’s attempt to hold him back, but Tim just shook them off.

“You think you have me all figured out, don’t you? You think you know me?” Tim chuckled humorlessly, shaking off the people trying to restrain him, “But you don’t. I was given orders, and I followed them. That isn’t being a lapdog. That’s being obedient.”

“You’re sixteen. You’re old enough to develop your own sense of morality, not have Batman design it for you,” Jaime countered.

“I answer for myself!” Tim punched Jaime again in the lower abdomen. Jaime let it happen. The hit was ineffective.

A shot rang out. Garfield wasn’t sure where it had come from, but he saw Jaime fall to the ground.

“Blue!” he quickly fell to his knees next to his friend. Jaime was conscious and not bleeding, so that was a good sign. Garfield looked around, trying to register where the shot had come from.

“Blue, are you okay?” Cassie asked worriedly.

“Fine,” Jaime got to his feet. A bullet had grazed his armor and ricocheted off. It didn’t look like it had injured anyone.

“Did you do that?” Jaime snapped, looking Tim in the eyes, “Did you just try to kill me?”

Garfield prayed to God that his friend did not just attempt to murder the other.

“You think I did that?” Tim scoffed, “I can’t believe this.”

“I don’t trust you anymore, Tim. At one point we were all like brothers, then in the span of seven days, you take your two girlfriends with you and leave us out in the dark. And gained a new one,” Jaime gestured to the person wearing black.

Garfield figured they scowled underneath their mask.

“I’d make that decision again if I had to,” Tim said, coldly.

“Then you’ve chosen the path to be alone. Let’s get back to the bioship, guys,” Jaime said to Bart, Cassie and Garfield. They all started walking away.

“Wait, Jaime.”

None of them bothered looking back. Their former friends hadn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> The title was based off the song Friends by Chase Atlantic.  
> [ My tumblr :) ](https://fr0zen-waffle.tumblr.com/)


End file.
